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Bread & Butter Berlin relaxes

After an opening party that literally drowned and had to be cancelled at an earlier stage last night, it was all sunny and clear for the opening day of Bread & Butter this morning.

When entering the trade show, the first thing you stumbled across was the Denim Connection, an area centrally located in the middle of the Urban Base that showed collected denim styles from “all denim brands exhibiting at the fair”, as the hostess put it. This way, one would be able to look at, touch and compare the products by the different labels and subsequently have a closer look at the different brands’ booths. Returning to denim after a season of housing a restaurant area in that same area – is that a move of back to the roots? Maybe yes. The general segmentation was composed as usual, from upmarket and heritage in the L.OC.K. area on the right to the sporty brands in the Upper Street area on the left. Some large names were missing (think Wrangler or Hilfiger Denim), but some international players like Reebok also returned to the fair after an absence of five years.

Previously highly-discussed was the new use of the most left hangar, which now exclusively houses the 23 different Bestseller brands, including Jack & Jones, Object, Only, Selected and Vero Moda. The Bestseller hangar felt like an own fair-in-the-fair with own catering, DJs and constructually separated booths for each label. The hall design was very spacious and in total, it felt like one of the best visited areas of the complete trade show.

The general atmosphere was relaxed, exhibitors seemed content and calm. Most buyers and retailers used the show for taking a look at the collections and labels rather than for fixed (ordering) appointments. David-Alexandre Faber, buyer at Fab, highlighted the international relevance of the fair: “Fab has not been in Europe for too long, so it’s a great opportunity to introduce the concept to a wide and international audience.” Laura Dammann, buyer at Brands4Friends: “Bread & Butter is still the main trade show for us. I am visiting my regular brands and have a look around. It feels less crowded, but this way you can have better conversations and it’s less stressful. I like the new setting of the Urban Base - with the lower booths in the middle gangway, it’s easier to get an overview and you don’t feel so struck.”

There was a high increase of exhibiting labels from the accessories, jewelry and product design sector, e.g. by Donkey products, Sal y Limon, OPS Objects, Mint or Kindneykaren. Speaking of trends, one could see prints at nearly every booth. From floral and jungle themes and the established camouflage or universe prints to bold claims and fun prints – prints was the thing from headwear to footwear.

And there was one thing where Bread & Butter truly stuck to its annual motto: the internet CONNECT-ion was better than ever.

Comments [1]

On 03.07.2013 at 05:10 Farooq Badar wrote:

Mr.

Excellent doccument, coverring all the aspects of trade show.
Well done.

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